Rafi Levi shifted his weight from the green pedicab he was standing on to the concrete below as he stood overlooking San Diego Bay at the Embarcadero.
“I’ve only been doing this for three weeks,” the pedicab driver said. He explained his recent move to America from Israel, cracking a slight smile as he turned away.
Levi pointed to the many city licenses he wore. He said they allowed him to pedal tourists around downtown San Diego for money. Soon those will not be enough. City officials plan to crack down on the number of permits next year and to increase other laws in an effort to control the pedicab trade.
Levi is like most of the 500 to 600 registered operators who have seasonal licenses; mainly from Eastern Europe and Turkey, they are allowed to come over for a few months on visas, usually in the summertime, according to Brad Jacobsen, associate traffic engineer with the City of San Diego.
“What we’re doing is a kind of twofold enforcement operation in terms of regulating them,” Jacobsen said.
Because of complaints from downtown businesses, police and from pedicab drivers themselves about oversaturation, officials have decided to put a cap on the number of licenses for 2009 and to regulate that number with more laws, Jacobsen said.
Levi said he must work another job ” he is part of the crew aboard an Embarcadero sailing vessel. He heard about the city’s plan to regulate pedicab drivers’ licenses, cutting them by half ” from 500 to 250 ” from his boss.
“Right now, there’s not too many around, but summertime is the problem,” Levi said. “Look around, you can’t even find 250 [pedicabs] but in the summertime, you can find 500.”
Levi drives tourists downtown at the Embarcadero daily and then in the Gaslamp at night. He leases the vehicle weekly from an operator who bought a permit. According to Jacobsen, decreasing the number of available operators’ permits ” at a cost of $25 each ” is one facet of the problem city officials are focusing their efforts on.
“The current pedicab regulations are that they can operate anywhere in the city of San Diego,” Jacobsen said. “Downtown is probably the most lucrative place for them. That’s where they tend to operate.”
Levi agreed with Jacobsen’s theory. He said the downtown area is perfect because it is flat, has tourists and young people ” and an active nightlife.
“It’s kind of like having your own business,” he said. He said he could see himself going to Pacific Beach, but was worried about storing the cab there.
Jacobsen and other city officials fear that next year when the number of permits issued is decreased, pedicab drivers will expand their enterprise into areas like La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach and Ocean Beach, he said.
Jacobsen said the city is taking a proactive approach to these areas, contacting groups and attending planning meetings to let the community know possibilities. La Jolla was the first community contacted regarding pedicabs.
According to Jim Heaton of La Jolla Shores Association, La Jolla’s Traffic and Transportation Board unanimously approved a motion to include La Jolla in the proposed San Diego restricted zone, and also to prohibit pedicabs on Prospect Avenue.
There is currently nothing stopping pedicab drivers from working anywhere in the city, Jacobsen said. If the groups “include [their area] in the proposed San Diego restricted zone,” then any pedicab drivers who don’t make the cut next year won’t be able to operate inside the restricted zone. This vote would only allow the permitted number ” possibly 250 ” of pedicabs to operate inside the zone.
Jacobsen said officials fear that pedicabs who don’t get their permits could seek work elsewhere, probably the areas with nightlife and tourists ” La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, and Ocean Beach. But if these areas vote for inclusion, only the 250 permitted pedicabs could work there.
In addition to cutting the number of permits issued, city officials are tightening up administrative rules, such as posting fares and other gray areas, Jacobsen said.
“We’re going to clean up items, like we’ll have them post their fares,” Jacobsen said. “If they want to do it by tips, then that’s what they can do, but we’ve got some price gouging going on.”
Drivers will also need to follow the California Vehicle Code, he said.
“We’re putting them under the vehicle code for things except for what wouldn’t apply to them, like having working windshield wipers,” Jacobsen said.
Restaurant owners voiced concerns that led officials to enact other rules.
“Also, parking violations are going on, Jacobsen said. “They cluster in front of certain nightspots, and people aren’t making money because it’s oversaturated. So everybody is in total agreement with these things.”